Conveyor of transversely varying width



C. MALNATI CONVEYOR OF' TRANSVERSELY VARYING WIDTH Oct.. 14, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filedv Dec. 19, 1955 I A 90H05` w n Z/ Il I. Ill n.

Unite States Patent() CNVEYGR F TRANSVERSELY VARYING WIDTH CesareMalnati, Copiague, N. Y.

Application December 19, 1955, Serial No. 553,971

9 Claims. (Cl. 198-34) This invention relates to a conveyor oftransversely varying width.

In general, my invention is concerned with a conveyor which isparticularly useful for transversely separating unbaked strips ofbreadstick dough as, for example, in a machine such as is shown anddescribed in my United States Letters Patent No. 2,545,667 issued'March30, 1951, for Apparatus for Separating Closely Adjacent Strips of Dough.The invention, however, is not to be considered as limited to such usesince it may be employed for separating or bringing together anyarticles or strips.

More specifically, my invention pertains to an improved conveyor of thegeneral character described and claimed in my co-pending application forUnited States Letters Patent Serial No. 328,685 filed December 30, 1952,for Conveyor of Transversely Varying Width, now Patent No. 2,801,727.

The conveyor shown in my aforesaid co-pending application constitutes apair of arcuate concentric rollers about which are trained a pluralityof narrow endless belts that are in fanwise mutual relationship. Due tothis arrangement, the degree of transverse separation of the doughstrips is limited inasmuch as if the separation -between the belts at agiven point becomes too great the strips will fall between the belts.Moreover, in an attempt to increase the ratio of widths between thenarrow and wide ends of the conveyor the dough strips have to beparticularly crowded at the receiving, i. e., the narrow end and thiscreates difficulty in cutting the strips from a sheet.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor whichovercomes all the aforementioned defects.

It is another object of my invention to provide a conveyor of thecharacter described which increases at the delivery end of the conveyorthe maximum permissible opening between the belts that `originate at thereceiving end of the conveyor.

It is another object of my invention to provide a conveyor of thecharacter described which permits an increase in width of the receivingend of the conveyor without a multiplied corresponding increase in widthat the delivery end of the conveyor and without reducing the spreadobtained between articles Imoved by the conveyor. y It is another objectof my invention to provide a conveyor of the character described whichachieves all the foregoing results without unduly increasing thecomplexity of structure.

It is an ancillary object of my invention to provide for a conveyor ofthe character described a novel arcuate roller and shaft for the same.

yOther objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part willbe pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consistsin the features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangements -of parts which will beexemplified in the conveyor hereinafter described and of which the scopeof application will be indicated in the appended claims.

ICS

In the accompanying .drawings in which is shown one of the variouslpossible embodiments of my invention,

Fig. 1 is a top view of a conveyor constructed in accordance with mypresent invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof; p

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged fragmentary sectional views takensubstantially along the lines 33, 4 4 and 5 5, respectively, of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line6 6 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of one of the curvedshafts taken at the region where the shaft changes from slot to laminarform.

The invention will be described as it is used in a machine for.separating strips of uncooked breadstick dough.

Pursuant to the instant invention, said machine includes a specialconveyor belt which, as it progresses away from a zone at which narrowdough strips are deposited, has its width increased transversely of itsgeneral direction of travel by moving apart side-by-side narrow belts onwhich the strips are separated and translated and thereby separating thestrips.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference number 10 denotesa conveyor embodying my present invention. Said conveyor includes aframe constituting a pair of side beams 12 which diverge from a narrowreceiving end 14 to a wide delivery end 16. A roller 18 spans the narrowend of the frame and another roller 20 the wide end. Both rollers aresurfaced with a material, such as rubber, which is flexible and has goodtraction qualities. It is a necessary feature of the conveyor that bothrollers have concentric curved longitudinal axes. The details of theroller constructions will be described hereinafter but it should benoted at this point that the particular structure of the variably curvedaxle constituting the center of each roller is one of the features ofthe present invention.

In accordance with the instant invention, the conveyor includes threedifferent sets of narrow endless belts. One of these sets constitutesthe belts 22 which are trained about the two rollers 18, 20 at theopposite ends of the conveyor. Because the rollers 18, 20 areconcentric, these belts 22 are of the same length and are arranged infanwise mutual relationship.` A typical belt 22 comprises a few lengths24 lof ball chain joined by helical springs 26 which maintain the beltsunder a suitable tension. The number of belts shown is considerably lessthan the number used in a typical installation and the size of the ballsshown is larger than those actually employed in order to facilitateillustration. Said belts are guided intermediate their ends by a lowerplate 28 and an upper plate 30. These plates are provided withlongitudinal grooves 32 in which the belts travel, said grooves beingradially disposed with respect to the common center of the concentriclongitudinal -axes of the rollers, i. e., they diverge from each otherin fanlike fashion in the direction of the wide end. The plates aresupported, as by boards 34.

Each roller 18, 20 has a sprocket 36 secured on each end, chains 38being trained about these sprockets so that a chain connects a sprocketon one side of the shorter roller 18 with a sprocket on the same side ofthe longer roller 20.

The longer roller 20 is suitably driven from a countershaft 40 by a pairof bevel gears 42 on said shaft meshing with bevel gears 44 on thelonger roller.

The longitudinal axes of the rollers are concentrically curved tomaintain the belts 22 of the first set in fanwise mutual relationship,that is to say, mutually angularly inclined. If the rollers were notthus arranged, the belts would tend to travel on the rollers and departfrom the desired mutual relationship, all as is explained in my saidco-pending application.

B Specifically pursuant to my invention, I provide a second set ofnarrow endless belts 46, like the belts 22, which are trained about thelonger roller and also about a set of narrow sheaves 47. Said sheavesare located between the narrow and wide ends of the frame and arepositioned between some of the belts 22 of the first set. One desirablearrangement is to have the sheaves 47 so located that there are twobelts 22 of the first set between each pair of sheaves. The sheaves aresuitably mounted for rotation as on axles 48 carried on bearings 49supported on the lower board 34.

The axis of rotation of each sheave is substantially perpendicular tothe planes of the belts 22 on opposite sides thereof and also lies inthe planes of the longitudinal axes of the rollers 18, 22, Moreover, thesheaves are substantially midway between the adjacent belts 22. Inaddition, the sheaves are so oriented that their planes intersect at thecommon center of the concentric longitudinal axes of the rollers 18, 20.

The sheaves 47 are located at any suitable distance from the shorterroller 18, their location being determined by the number of belts 22 inthe first set, by the number of sheaves 47, by the widths of the belts22, 46, by the angle of divergence of the belts 22 and by the size ofthe articles being conveyed. Essentially, the belts 46 of the second setreduce the angle of divergence of the belts 22 of the rst set so thatwithout reducing the rate of lateral spread of the conveyor there isless spacing between adjacent belts 22, 46 on the roller 20, even thoughthe spacing between the belts 22 might exceed the permissible spacing atthe delivery end of the conveyor for the article being transported. Inother words, the second set of belts functions as a secondary transverseexpansion means.

The sheaves 47 are located close enough to the roller 18 to prevent anyarticles being conveyed from reaching a point where the spacing betweenthe belts 22 exceeds the distance needed to properly transport thearticles.

If in the construction illustrated the length of the roller 20 weregreater and accordingly the angle of divergence of the belts 22 wereincreased, either the sheaves 47 could be located closer to thereceiving roller 18 or additional sheaves would be employed and theirlocation shifted closer to the delivery roller 20.

It wil be understood that the location of the sheaves 47 as describedabove is such that the belts 46 of the second set are locatedequidistantly between the belts 22 of the first set disposed on oppositesides thereof whereby not only is a pleasing and symmetrical pattern ofbelts presented but most effective use of the belts is secured.

The sheaves 47 are idlers, the belts 46 being driven entirely from thelonger roller 20.

If desired, additional sheaves 47 can be included at different distancesfrom the roller 18 to permit still greater spreading between the belts22 of the rst set, the controlling consideration being to permit as muchdivergence between the belts 22 as is necessary to secure any givenseparation of articles being conveyed and at the same time not to exceedon the roller 20 a predetermined maximum spacing between belts such thatthe articles being conveyed will drop between the belts.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the number and positionof the belts 46 of the second set is controlled by the particularconditions to be satisfied by any specific conveyor.

Further pursuant to the present invention, I provide a third set ofendless belts 50. The function of this last set of belts is to increasethe effective width of the conveyor at the edges of the receiving end,in other words, the length of the roller 18, without effecting acorresponding multiplied increase in width at the delivery end, i. e.,of the roller 20 so that a slight variation in the transverse locationof the dough sheet will not disturb the operation of the conveyor,without making the delivery end of the conveyor unduly wide. The thirdset of belts is so arranged that it will transport an article from thereceiving end of the conveyor to a point on the delivery end of theconveyor immediately alongside the outermost belt 22 of the first, i. e.primary expansion, set. To effect this result, the third set of belts isarranged to constitute, in effect, a wedge-shaped conveyor, that is tosay, a conveyor which is broad at its receiving end and narrow at itsdelivery end whereby to act as a transverse compression conveyor.

More specifically, the third set of belts are trained about the shorterreceiving roller 18 and also about sheaves 52. The belts 50 areprogressively longer from the outermost belt 22 of the primary expansionset to the side of the conveyor. Thus, the first belt 50 at one side ofthe conveyor which is closest to the outermost belt 22 is the shortestand its associated sheave 52 is closest to the roller 18. The next belt50 is somewhat longer and its sheave 52' further from the roller 18. Thethird belt 50 is still longer and its sheave 52 closest to the roller2i). The last and outermost belt 50" is trained about the rollers 18,20. It thus will be seen that the four belts of the transversecompression set on each side of the conveyor constitute in effect aconveyor whose width is a maximum adjacent the receiving roller 18 and aminimum, i. e., one belt in width at the delivery roller 20.

r The number of belts of the last set as shown in the drawings isschematic and fewer than actually employed in a commercial conveyor. Thethird set of belts upon deposit of an article such as a dough stripthereon at the reception end of the conveyor will move this articletoward the delivery end of the conveyor in a direction converging uponthe outermost belt 22 of the first set whereby regardless of the pointof deposit of the outermost article, its point of delivery remainsconstant.

Each of the sheaves 52 is suitably mounted for rotation in a mannersimilar to the sheaves 47. The sheaves S2 are idlers, the belts 50 ofthe third set being driven by the receiving roller 18.

Identical constructions are employed in both the rollers 18, 20 tosecure curved longitudinal axes and hence I have shown in detail onlythe construction for the roller 20. ,Said rollcr (see Fig. 4) includes afixed (non-rotatable) central shaft, i. e., axle 54 which has thelongitudinal curvature desired for the roller. A plurality of needlebearings 56 separated by axial spacers 58 are carried by the shaft 54 sothat, in effect, the needle bearings are larranged end-to-end, althoughit will be apparent that they are slightly angularly offset with respectto one another due to the curvature of the shaft 54. It is not necessarythat the inner races of the needle bearings be tight on the shaft. Itwill suflice if the inner races simply do not wobble although it ispreferred that these races fit the shaft snugly so that there will be africtional restraint against their rotation relative to the shaft. Eachneedle bearing is associated with a successively different portion ofthe curved central shaft 54 so that, as noted above, each needle bearingis at a slight angle with respect to the adjacent bearings.

A rubber lsleeve 60 is slipped over the bearings and is in frictionalcontact with the external surfaces of the outer races of the needlebearings so that the sleeve will turn with these races. Thus, successiveportions of the sleeve turn about axes of rotation which are differentlyangularly inclined. Hence, the general effect is that the sleeve turnsas a whole about a curved axis of rotation which is coincident with thecurved longitudinal axis of the central shaft.

The particular structural details employed to provide any desiredcurvature to the central shaft is an ancillary feature of my presentinvention. Said shaft unlike the curved shaft shown in my saidco-pending application, is not a solid piece of metal but ratherconstitutes several elements. More particularly, the shaft 54 includes ahollow sleeve 62 which is provided with similarly oriented transverseslots 64 at regular intervals along its length. Each of the slotsextends around more than of the circumference of the sleeve preferablybeing considerably longer and leaving, for example, only about 90 of asolid sector 66 (see Fig. 6) consisting of the original metal of thesleeve. This sector 66 is disposed on the concave side of the sleeve. Itthus will be appreciated that although the hollow sleeve before slottingis a stiff member which cannot be easily bent and would be particularlydifficult to bend without deformation, it now can be flexed withcomparative ease along the side of the sleeve including the sectors 66.Preferably, the slots 64 are so located as to lie between adjacentneedle bearings.

The provision of the slots 64 exibilizes the sleeve 62 to too great anextent and renders the sleeve Isubject to deformation. Hence, Iincorporate `a resilient stiifening member which, although flexible,will supply the desirable additional rigidity to the sleeve. Saidstitiening member constitutes a plurality of leaf springs 68 (see Fig.6) arranged as juxtaposed laminae defining a substantially circular corethat completely lills up the hollow interior yof the sleeve. Iinasmuchas the core constitutes separate thin resilient sheets, when the sleeveis flexed the sheetswill slide upon one another to permit the bendingaction to take place and still support the sleeve whereby to maintainthe original round contour.

The leaf springs terminate short of the ends of the sleevev to permitreception therein of a reduced diameter plug portion 7i) of a cap 72that terminateseach end of the shaft 54. A through bore runstransversely through the sleeve and plug portion of the cap and alsothrough a few of the cent-ral laminae that extend into aA slot 714 inthe plug. A cotter pin 76 passing through said bore has its tips spreadin order to secure the cap to the shaft.

The caps are utilized to hold the shaft in place. For example, referringto Fig. 4, each cap has its outer end threaded to receive a hexagonalnut '7-8 that is located in a slot 'Sii at the end of the associatedside beam l2 (see Fig. 2)

The leaf springs are maintained in any given relative relationship andthus the shaft is caused to hold any particular curvature in anysuitable manner, as, for instance, by welding together the ends of theleaf springs after the roller has been bent to the required arcuateshape or, as shown, by drilling a bore through the sleeve, cap andsprings and passing the cotter pin 76 therethrough.

Ferrules 78 secured to the ends of the rubber sleeves 60 also are fastto the sprockets 36 and gears 44.

The countershaft 40 is supported and driven in any suitable fashion. Forexample, the shaft is journalled in bearings 82 that are xed to thebeams 12. One end of the countershaft carries a sprocket 84 that isengaged by a chain 86 actuated by a suitable source of power (not shown)as, for example, a motor driven sprocket.

It should be observed that the belts of the second and third sets likethose of the first set run in longitudinal grooves which aid in guidingthe same. `It will be apparent that all of the belts have portionsthereof extending above the grooves in the upper plate 30 whereby to beavailable to support the objects being transported by the conveyor.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a conveyor which achieves allthe objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet the conditionsof practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of my above invention andas various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, itis to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in theaccompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureabove Letters Patent:

l. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a lirst set of narrow endlessprimary transverse'-- expansion belts trained about said rollers infanwise mutual relationship, sheaves located between some of said beltsintermediate said rollers, said sheaves being arranged with their planesintersecting the common center of the `concentric rollers, and a secondset of narrow end-- less secondary transverse-expansion belts trainedabout said sheaves and the delivery rollers.

2. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a set of narrow endless primarytransverse-expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwise mutualrelationship, and a secondary transverse-expansion translating meanslling the spaces between the primary transverseexpansion belts fromadjacent the delivery end of the conveyor to intermediate the receivingand delivery rollers.-

3. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a set of narrow endlesstransverse-expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwise mutualrelationship, and a wedge-shaped set of belts alongside one side of therst set of belts, the broad end of said wedge-shaped set of belts beingat the receiving roller and the narrow end at the delivery roller.

4. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a rst set of narrow endlesstransverse-expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwise mutualrelationship, a second set of narrow endless transverse-compressionbelts trained about the receiving roller, said belts being ofprogressively dilerent lengths, the longest of said compression beltsbeing trained about the delivery roller and a set of sheaves about whichthe remainder of the compression belts are trained, all of saidcompression belts being substantially parallel to each other, thelongest of said compression belts lying alongside an outermost expansionbelt at the delivery roller.

5. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a rst set of narrow endlessprimary transverse-expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwisemutual relationship, sheaves located between some of said beltsintermediate said rollers, said sheaves being arranged with their planesintersecting the common center of the concentric rollers, a second setof narrow endless secondary transverse-expansion belts trained aboutsaid sheavesand the delivery rollers and a transverse-compressiontranslating means alongside an outermost expansion belt.

6. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a first set of narrow endlessprimary transverse-expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwisemutual relationship, sheaves located between some of said beltsintermediate said rollers, said sheaves being arranged with their planesintersecting the common center of the concentric rollers, a second setof narrow endless secondary transverse-expansion belts trained aboutsaid sheaves and the deliver-y rollers -and transverse-compressiontranslating means alongside both outermost expansion belts.

7. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a rst set of narrow endlessprimary-transverse expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwisemutual relationship, sheaves located between some of said beltsintermediate said rollers, said sheaves being arranged with their planesintersecting the common center of the concentric rollers, a second setof narrow endless secondary transverse-expansion belts trained aboutsaid sheaves and the ydelivery rollers and a wedge-shaped compressiontranslating means having its wide end at the receiving roller and itsnarrow end at the delivery roller, said means being disposed adjacent anoutermost expansion belt.

8. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a rst set of narrow endlessprimary transverse-expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwisemutual relationship, a second set of narrow endlesstransverse-compression belts trained about the receiving roller, andlast-named belts being located alongside an outermost expansion belt andbeing of progressively greater length in a direction away from saidoutermost expansion belt, the outermost of the compression belts beingtrained about the delivery roller, and sheaths intermediate the tworollers about which the remainder of the compression belts are trained,said compression belts being substantially parallel to one another, theoutermost compression belt being located adjacent the outermostexpansion belt at the delivery roller.

9. A conveyor for shifting objects laterally outwardly as they aretranslated forwardly, said conveyor including receiving and deliveryarcuate concentric registered rollers, a rst set of narrow endlessprimary transverse-expansion belts trained about said rollers in fanwisemutual relationship, sheaves located between some of said beltsintermediate said valves, said sheaves being arranged with their planesintersecting the common center of the concentric rollers, a second setof narrow endless secondary transverse-expanson belts trained about saidsheaves and the delivery rollers, a third set of narrow endlesstransverse-compression belts trained about the receiving rollers, saidlast-named belts being located alongside an outermost expansion belt andbeing of progressively greater length in a direction away from saidoutermost expansion belt, the outermost of the compression belts beingtrained about the delivery roller, and sheaths intermediate the tworollers about which the remainder of the compression belts are trained,said compression belts being substantially parallel to one another, theoutermost compression belt being located adjacent the outermostexpansion belt at the delivery roller.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,814,652 Weiss July 14, 1931 1,868,538 McKee July 26, 1932 1,938,110Neutelings Dec. 5, 1933 2,547,975 Robertson Apr. 10, 1951 2,594,591Runton Apr. 29, 1952 2,619,703 Dungler Dec. 2, 1952 FORElGN PATENTS13,017 Great Britain June 2, 1910 525,995 Germany June 1, 1931

